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Carl would like this.
And really, Leo wasn’t too bad.
(Now, anyway.)
“Knock-knock.”
Leo opened his eyes, blinking wearily. It took him a moment to focus on Markus, standing in the doorway; when he did, his eyes widened in surprise. “Markus,” He rasped. “What’re you doing here?”
Markus gave a little shrug, sticking his hands in his pockets and trying to act casually. “I went by your place,” He said. “Your roommate said you were in the hospital, so I thought I’d drop by and say hello. Pneumonia?”
Leo nodded weakly as Markus pulled up a chair beside the bed. “Yeah. Red Ice really screws up your lungs, makes you more… Susceptible? Yeah, susceptible to stuff like this. Every time I get a cold now my odds of getting complications are way higher.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah.”
Silence; it was the sort that could become awkward if Markus didn’t fight against it. Though most androids had some degree of social programming to give them cues on how to behave in situations like these, they were only very general guidelines: They could not account for the millions of nuances in social interaction, could not account for every complexity in a relationship.
And though they’d reconciled when Carl was on his deathbed, Markus could not deny that his relationship with Leo could solely be defined as ‘complex’.
“So, uh… How have things been? Apart from this, I mean.”
Leo shrugged. “Not bad. Getting clean was a bitch, but evacuating in November meant I had to go cold turkey for a while. Can’t get high if you can’t find the dealers.”
“Did you go to rehab?”
“Yeah, in January. Wasn’t too bad. Didn’t want to go in December because of-” A pause. “-well, because of dad. What have you been up to?”
Markus noticed the immediate change of subject and went with it. Carl was still a touchy topic for him too. “A lot of things,” he said. “Mostly with Jericho. We’ve finally managed to set up some housing for some of the androids that live at Jericho. It’s mostly going to be the YK600s, the teen androids released at the beginning of the month, moving in first.”
“That’s good.” Suddenly Leo perked up. “Oh, oh, I almost forgot to ask,” he said. “I saw this newscast on Channel 9 back in February-”
Oh no. “The one with Gordon Penwick at Carl’s house?” Markus asked weakly.
Leo grinned. “Yeah, the one where that water-balloon full of paint exploded on his head?”
Markus cringed. “It was a plastic bag. We had a couple of kids from Jericho- YK500 androids- at the house, and we really should have been keeping a closer eye on them.”
But Leo was laughing wheezily. “That was fuckin’ hilarious,” He croaked. “Gordon Penwick’s such a blowhard. Watching him get a face full of paint was some of the funniest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. Dad would’ve approved.”
Markus started giggling too. Carl would have found it hilarious- hell, he probably would have helped them do it. He’d never been fond of Penwick and his flock, never been fond of anti-android protestors period, and that bit of mischief would have been a little too much to pass up. “Golly, I’m just a little old man in a wheelchair, Markus,” He could imagine Carl saying, wide-eyed and innocent alongside the kids. “How could I possibly have done anything like that?”
God that was a funny picture.
Leo broke out into a violent coughing fit, doubling-up in bed and clutching his chest. Markus winced and leaned forward, putting a hand on his shoulder. When the coughing had died down and Leo was wheezing but nonetheless breathing, Markus shook his head. “You really have got it bad, don’t you?”
Leo nodded, flopping back onto the pillow. “Yeah,” He coughed. “’s parta the reason I’m here. They think I might’ve cracked a rib from this.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.”
Markus hesitated; the idea was spur-of-the-moment, no forethought whatsoever, but it felt right to offer. “How long do you think you’ll be here?”
Leo shrugged. “Not sure. Depends on whether the doctor thinks I’m safe to go home or not.”
A beat. “Did you want to come stay with us? With Simon and I?” The rest of it tumbled out quickly. “I mean I don’t know if you’re friendly with your roommate or not or if they’re gonna look out for you when you get home, but if you need any help you can come stay with us, we’re, you know… We can stop you from suffocating, I guess.” A weak finish, but hopefully it got the point across.
Leo was looking at him curiously, like he found the offer confusing. “You’d… Want me there?” He asked, sounding surprised.
Markus nodded slowly. “Yeah, sure.”
“Even after I…?” Leo’s eyebrows rose slowly, pointedly; the unsaid remainder of the sentence being ‘even after I provoked you into knocking my head in because I was high and an asshole?’
And Markus couldn’t lie, their interactions since that incident had been far and few between, and he couldn’t help but remembering it every tine the mere subject of Leo came up: That incident was, after all, what led to him being shot and disposed of in a landfill full of half-dead androids. In a way, the confrontation with Leo had been the beginning of the revolution, the incident that had brought Markus to Jericho and put him in a position to help androids free themselves- it was because of that incident that androids were free. As such, Markus’s feelings on the subject were conflicted.
But this was what Carl would want: His sons getting along with each other.
And Leo really wasn’t that bad now.
“That’s in the past,” Markus said sincerely. “It’s behind us now. You’re welcome with us any time.”
Leo stared at him for a long moment- but then, slowly, smiled. “Thanks, brother.” He was likely being colloquial, but even that was a meaningful evolution in their relationship. Leo held out a hand, and Markus clasped it.
“Not a problem, brother.”
Jericho was his family, and it was a large one; but Markus did not object to adding more.
More family was always good.
-End